UN mission finds 'crimes against humanity' in Libya

More than 350 migrants intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard at a detention centre in Libya in January 2018. © Ansa

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In its latest report presented Monday morning to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the group of experts documents a series of human rights violations perpetrated against both Libyans and migrants in the country. He points to an "appalling situation".

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There are reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed " in Libya, says a UN fact-finding mission. Since the beginning of their mandate in 2020, the investigators who visited the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi have collected more than 400 interviews with witnesses and victims. They claim that human rights violations have multiplied in three years, as detailed by Mohamed Auajjar, head of the mission: "The mission documented numerous cases of arbitrary detention, killings, torture, rape, sexual slavery and enforced disappearances, confirming their widespread practices in the country.

For the first time, the mission adds sexual slavery, including in the Bani Walid and Sabratah migrant detention centres, to the list of human rights violations: "The mission regrets that these victims of heinous crimes were, in addition to men and women, children, who are in desperate need of protection.

In its report, the experts attribute the facts to the Libyan coast guard and armed groups, such as the Tripoli government-funded "Stability Support Authority" (SSA) militia. The mission, whose mandate ends today, intends to provide a list of "possible perpetrators" of these crimes to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

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• Libya
• Human rights
• UN